The Garden, You, and I

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The Garden, You, and I

The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Garden, You, and I, by Mabel Osgood Wright This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
Title: The Garden, You, and I
Author: Mabel Osgood Wright
Release Date: January 14, 2006 [EBook #17514]
Language: English
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THE GARDEN, YOU, AND I
[Illustration: A SEASIDE GARDEN.]
THE GARDEN, YOU, AND I
BY
BARBARA
AUTHOR OF
"THE GARDEN OF A COMMUTER'S WIFE," "PEOPLE OF THE WHIRLPOOL," "AT THE SIGN OF THE FOX," ETC.
New York THE MACMILLAN COMPANY LONDON: MACMILLAN & CO., LTD. 1906
All rights reserved
COPYRIGHT, 1906.
BY THE MACMILLAN COMPANY.
Set up and electrotyped. Published June, 1906.
Norwood Press J.S. Cushing & Co.--Berwick & Smith Co. Norwood, Mass., U.S.A.

Dedicated
TO
J.L.G.
I.M.T.
AND
A.B.P.
THE LITERARY GARDENERS OF REDDING

GREETING
This book is for those who in treading the garden path have no thought of material gain; rather must they give,--from the pocket as they may,--from the brain much,--and from the heart all,--if they would drink in full measure this pure joy of living.
"Allons! the road is before us! It is safe--I have tried it--my own feet have tried it well--be not detained." --WALT WHITMAN.

CONTENTS
CHAPTER PAGE
I. THE WAYS OF THE WIND 1
II. THE BOOK OF THE GARDEN, YOU, AND I 7
III. CONCERNING HARDY PLANTS 29
IV. THEIR GARDEN VACATION 48
V. ANNUALS--WORTHY AND UNWORTHY 70
VI. THEIR FORTUNATE ESCAPE 92
VII. A SIMPLE ROSE GARDEN 117
VIII. A MIDNIGHT ADVENTURE 155
IX. FERNS, FENCES, AND WHITE BIRCHES 183
X. FRANKNESS--GARDENING AND OTHERWISE 202
LIST OF FLOWER COMBINATIONS FOR THE TABLE FROM BARBARA'S Garden Boke 230
XI. A SEASIDE GARDEN 233
XII. THE TRANSPLANTING OF EVERGREENS 246
XIII. LILIES AND THEIR WHIMS 262
XIV. FRAGRANT FLOWERS AND LEAVES 281
XV. THE PINK FAMILY OUTDOORS 305
XVI. THE FRAME OF THE PICTURE 320
XVII. THE INS AND OUTS OF THE MATTER 336
XVIII. THE VALUE OF WHITE FLOWERS 352
XIX. PANDORA'S CHEST 365
XX. EPILOGUE 374
APPENDIX
FOR THE HARDY SEED BED 375
SOME WORTHY ANNUALS 387

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
A SEASIDE GARDEN (see p. 243) Frontispiece
"THE MAGNOLIAS BELOW AT THE ROAD-BEND" 8
ENGLISH LARKSPUR SEVEN FEET HIGH 32
FRAXINELLA--GERMAN IRIS AND CANDY-TUFT 44
LONGFELLOW'S GARDEN 81
THE SUMMER GARDEN--VERBENAS 86
ASTERS 90
THE PICTORIAL VALUE OF EVERGREENS 102
"MY ROSES ARE SCATTERED HERE, THERE, AND EVERYWHERE" 119
MADAME PLANTIER AT VAN CORTLAND MANOR 128
A CONVENIENT ROSE-BED 138
"THE LAST OF THE OLD ORCHARD" 156
THE SCREEN OF WHITE BIRCHES 166
"AN ENDLESS SHELTER FOR EVERY SORT OF WILD THING" 184
SPECIOSUM LILIES IN THE SHADE 270
THE POET'S NARCISSUS 278
A BED OF JAPAN PINKS 296
SINGLE AND DOUBLE PINKS 314
"THE SILVER MAPLE BY THE LANE GATE" 326
"A CURTAIN TO THE SIDE PORCH" 328
AN IRIS HEDGE 358
DAPHNE CNEORUM 360
A TERRIBLE EXAMPLE 362
"THE LOW SNOW-COVERED MEADOW" 372
"PUNCH ... HAS A CACHE UNDER THE SYRINGA BUSHES" 374

THE GARDEN, YOU, AND I

I
THE WAYS OF THE WIND
"Out of the veins of the world comes the blood of me; The heart that beats in my side is the heart of the sea; The hills have known me of old, and they do not forget; Long ago was I friends with the wind; I am friends with it yet."
--GERALD GOULD.
Whenever a piece of the land is to be set apart for a garden, two mighty rulers must be consulted as to the boundaries. When this earth child is born and flower garnished for the christening, the same two must be also bidden as sponsors. These rulers are the Sun and the Wind. The sun, if the matter in hand is once fairly spread before him and put in his charge, is a faithful guardian, meeting frankness frankly and sending his penetrating and vitalizing messengers through well-nigh inviolable shade. But of the wind, who shall answer for it or trust it? Do we really ever learn all of its vagaries and impossible possibilities?
If frankness best suits the sun, diplomacy must be our shield of defence windward, for the wind is not one but a composite of many moods, and to lure one on, and skilfully but not insultingly bar out another, is our portion. To shut out the wind of summer, the bearer of vitality, the uplifter of stifling vapours, the disperser of moulds, would indeed be an error; therefore, the great art of the planters of a garden is to learn the ways of the wind and to make friends with it. If the soil is sodden and sour, it may be drained and sweetened; if it is poor, it may be nourished; but when all this is done, if the garden lies where the winds of winter and spring in passing swiftly to and fro whet their steel-edged tempers upon it, what avails?
What does it matter if violet or pansy frames are set in a sunny nook,